SHC Dismisses Petitions Against Tax on Immovable Properties

Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday dismissed petitions filed against the imposition of tax on immovable properties on a “deemed income basis” under Section 7E of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001. The court has dismissed petitions through a short order and the reasons will be recorded later on by the court through a detailed judgment. The petitioners had questioned the constitutionality of Section 7E, the tax on deemed income of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001, inserted through the Finance Act 2022 on the premise of legislative incompetence of the Parliament to enact law outside the scope of Entry 50 of the Federal Legislative List, Fourth Schedule of the 1973 Constitution. The federal government levied income tax on deemed income through section 7E of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001. A large number of legal counsels had challenged this legislation mainly on the following grounds at the SHC